An Article Of Faith: Mormonism, Fascism, and the Third Reich

Justin Rich
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A Mormon bureaucrat. A Nazi regime. A choice between conscience and compliance. An Article of Faith is a serialized historical fiction audiobook about the quiet descent of religious institutions into authoritarian complicity. Set in 1938 Germany, it follows one man’s moral reckoning inside a church that chose survival over truth. For listeners who believe faith should never be a tool of fascism.

  1. 05/19/2025

    Epilogue

    In our series finale, we return to Hamburg forty years later through the eyes of David Cohen, now a 65-year-old American attorney who built a life defending the voiceless. As he walks the rebuilt streets of his childhood home, attending a Holocaust memorial dedication, the ghosts of the past emerge from behind modern facades. When an unexpected face from the past appears at the ceremony, David confronts unresolved questions about loyalty, institutional failure, and the true meaning of faith. Through intimate conversations and haunting memories, we learn what became of the resistance network members and those whose lives intertwined with David's during those dark days. Witness how memory becomes both burden and blessing, and how true friendship leaves an indelible mark that transcends time, distance, and even the darkest chapters of human history.

    14 min

  2. 05/19/2025

    Chapter 17: The Price of Light

    In the rain-soaked darkness of Hamburg, Friedrich's resistance work reaches its most dangerous moment as he attempts to help the Cohen family escape across the border. With SS Officer Krause closing in, Friedrich faces a moment of profound decision that will test not only his courage but the very foundations of his faith and identity. When plans unravel and pursuit becomes inevitable, Friedrich must make split-second choices that reveal the true measure of sacrifice. As dawn breaks over the city he once called home, Friedrich confronts both physical imprisonment and spiritual reckoning. What price is one willing to pay for defending what's right? In this powerful episode, we witness how moral courage stands firm even as institutional authorities falter, and how true freedom sometimes comes through letting go of everything one once held sacred.

    20 min

  3. 05/19/2025

    Chapter 16: The Cost of Compassion

    In the shadows of bureaucracy, Friedrich continues his dangerous game of deception, transforming official documents with careful strokes that could mean life or death. But when authorities begin to notice discrepancies in his work, Friedrich's precarious position at Bieber-Haus comes under threat, forcing him to make difficult choices under mounting pressure. As Friedrich navigates the aftermath of this pivotal confrontation, a chance encounter reveals unexpected complexities in the resistance movement. In a fog-shrouded hotel room near the harbor, Friedrich must confront not just external dangers but internal judgments about what truly constitutes righteousness in a broken world. What matters more—personal perfection or practical compassion? This episode explores the blurred lines between sin and salvation, and how mercy sometimes comes from the most unexpected sources.

    12 min

  4. 05/19/2025

    Chapter 15: Betrayal

    In this tense episode, Friedrich faces a dangerous confrontation that puts everything at risk. With the authorities closing in on David's location, Friedrich makes a desperate appeal for help through official Mormon Church channels through Thomas Clark. As danger mounts for everyone involved, Friedrich must confront the painful gap between institutional values and moral action. Join us for a powerful exploration of faith tested to its breaking point, as Friedrich grapples with impossible choices in a world where both church and state are failing those who need protection. What happens when the institutions meant to provide sanctuary become complicit in suffering? This episode delves into the heart of what it truly means to live one's beliefs when facing systemic injustice, and the courage required to stand alone when abandoned by those in power.

    19 min

  5. 05/17/2025

    Chapter 14: Night of Broken Glass

    The peaceful evening at Café Mozart shatters when Friedrich, David, and Greta witness the first acts of Kristallnacht erupting through Hamburg's Jewish quarter. What they observe isn't random violence but a methodical destruction carried out by familiar faces—including members of their own Mormon congregation. When David spots smoke rising from his father's beloved bookshop, our trio plunges into the chaos despite Friedrich's warnings. Inside the burning bookshop, a moment of violent confrontation with a Nazi attacker changes everything, while SS Officer Erich Krause's pursuit turns their escape into a desperate race through burning streets. As they flee with David's father through a city consuming itself, they must navigate not just physical danger but the moral collapse of a society they once trusted. The night culminates in Emma Weber's hidden cellar, where family bonds long fractured by religious differences begin to heal in the face of shared survival. Don't miss this pivotal episode that forces our characters to confront the true nature of institutional betrayal and marks their point of no return—transforming them from cautious helpers into determined resistors against a machinery of hate that has revealed itself in all its terrifying precision.

    22 min

  6. 05/17/2025

    Chapter 13: Brief Light

    In this pivotal time jump to late October, "Brief Light " reveals how our unlikely heroes have transformed their quiet resistance into a well-oiled machine. Friedrich's bureaucratic skills, once used to maintain order, now disrupt the very system he serves—each falsified document becoming an act of rebellion hidden behind official stamps and signatures. The episode showcases their growing success as families disappear not to train stations but to sanctuary across borders, with the team's operations becoming more efficient with each passing week. What began as desperate improvisation has evolved into methodical precision: Friedrich identifying those at risk, David leveraging reconnected Jewish networks, Greta concealing messages in sheet music, and Max's modified car carrying precious human cargo to freedom. We witness the bittersweet victory of reuniting estranged siblings over coffee in a back room, a moment of connection that reminds us what they're fighting for. The celebration of the Fischer children's successful escape highlights how far they've come—from saving individual friends to orchestrating multiple rescues in mere days. Yet beneath this newfound confidence lurks an ominous shadow. As autumn paints Hamburg's trees in gold and crimson, new processing centers rise on the horizon, threatening to end the small mercies that have allowed their work to continue. When boots on cobblestones and breaking glass interrupt their moment of peace, we're reminded that the machinery of destruction is evolving too—and time may be running out. Don't miss this tense installment where every forged signature represents another life potentially saved, while the sound of shattering glass signals that their fragile network of hope stands on the precipice of something far more terrifying.

    11 min

  7. 05/17/2025

    Chapter 12: The Exchange

    In the shadow of Hamburg's ancient streets, a desperate plan unfolds. David Cohen, once rejected by his Jewish community after his conversion to Mormonism, now stands at their doorway offering salvation. When little Sarah Kaufmann places her treasured teddy bear in David's hands, she unknowingly entrusts him with more than just a child's toy. Theodore, as the bear is called, carries secrets that could mean life or death for an entire family. As David and Friedrich guide the Kaufmanns toward what they hope is freedom, old wounds begin to heal in the darkness of a train compartment. But when German border guards take interest in Sarah's beloved bear, a moment of heart-stopping tension threatens to unravel everything. With memories and precious heirlooms exchanged under cover of night, can David prove his worth to those who once mourned him as dead? And will Max's ingenious German engineering and precise planning be enough to deliver them all safely across the border? Join us for a tense journey through Nazi Germany where faith, identity, and courage are tested against the machinery of hatred - and where the spaces between words might hold the key to survival.

    27 min

  8. 05/17/2025

    Chapter 11: Harmonies of Resistance

    In the hallowed halls of Hamburg's conservatory, Mormon vocalist Greta Hoffmann maintains a flawless facade while secretly harboring forbidden compositions in her portfolio. Beneath Wagner's bombastic notes and proper German technique lies something far more dangerous—sheet music embedded with coded resistance instructions. Just as Friedrich's network begins to accelerate their rescue operations, disaster strikes. A surprise inspection by the Reichsmusikkammer sends the conservatory into panic, with students and faculty scrambling to prove their cultural purity. When Inspector Hoffmann unexpectedly approaches Greta's piano and begins leafing through her portfolio—fingers inching dangerously close to pages that could condemn her—everything hangs in the balance. Will Greta's perfectly composed performance be enough to save her? Or will her music finally lead to her undoing?

    28 min
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A Mormon bureaucrat. A Nazi regime. A choice between conscience and compliance. An Article of Faith is a serialized historical fiction audiobook about the quiet descent of religious institutions into authoritarian complicity. Set in 1938 Germany, it follows one man’s moral reckoning inside a church that chose survival over truth. For listeners who believe faith should never be a tool of fascism.

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